Callistus

(Κάλλιστος).

1. A contemporary of the emperor Julian, who accompanied his sovereign on his expeditions, and afterwards celebrated his exploits in an epic poem, from which a statement is quoted by Nicephorus. (Hist. Eccles. 6.34.)

2. Surnamed Syropulus, a Christian author who wrote a learned disputation against the Palamites, which was dedicated to the patriarch Euthymius. (Nic. Commenus, Praenot. Mystag. p. 158.)

3. A monk of mount Athos.

During the war between Palaeologus and Cantacuzenus he was sent by the monks to Constantinople to endeavour to restore peace; but he was ill-treated there by the empress Anna and the patriarch Joannes. About the year A. D. 1354, the emperor Cantacuzenus made Callistus patriarch of Constantinople. The year after, when he was requested by the same emperor to crown his son Matthaeus, Callistus refused to comply with the request and withdrew to a monastery. As he refused to perform his duties as patriarch, Philotheus was appointed in his place. But when afterwards Joannes Palaeologus had gained possession of the imperial throne, Callistus was restored to the patriarchal see. The year after his restoration he was sent as ambassador to the Servian princess Elizabeth to conclude a peace, and during this embassy he died near Pherne, the capital of the Servians. Works On the Exaltation of the Cross

There is a Greek homily on the exaltation of the cross by one Callistus, but whether it is the work of our Callistus, or of another who was patriarch of Constantinople in A. D. 1406, is uncertain. Editions

This is printed with a Latin translation in Gretser (De Cruce, ii. p. 1347). Other theological works ascribed to a Callistus

There are some other works of a theological nature which are ascribed to one Callistus, but they have never been printed. Further Information

Wharton's Appendix to Cave, Hist. Lit. i. p. 46, &c., ed. London. [L.S]

a freedman of Caligula, in whose reign he possessed very great influence and power, though in the end he was an accomplice in the conspiracy by which this emperor was murdered. In the reign of Claudius, Callistus continued to have great influence, and endeavoured secretly, in conjunction with others, to counteract the attachment of Messalina to C. Silius; but Callistus was afraid of losing his position, and gave up opposing the scheme of Messalina. When she had been put to death, Callistus supported the designs of Lollia Paulina, who wished to become the emperor's wife; but he did not succeed in this point, for Claudius married Agrippina, who was supported by Pallas. This Callistus is undoubtedly the person to whom the physician Scribonius Largus dedicates his work; and from it we learn that the full name of Callistus was C. Julius Callistus. (Tac. Ann. 11.29, 38, 12.1, &c.; D. C. 59.19; Senec. Epist. 47; J. AJ 19.1.10.) [L.S]